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[International / GSM] [HOW TO] Root the GSM/HSPA+ Samsung Galaxy Nexus

teddyearp said:
Well, I took the above file, extracted it, took out the driver package (some people will already have them) and then put in busybox. Direct link:

http://ted.servepics.com/gnex/GNexus-root-busybox-package-nodriver.zip

It's in my i515 folder below, but please go ahead and put it in a dropbox as well since my server can get cranky sometimes.
Click to expand...

Awesome...downloading now...

LOL, I tried the link before you fixed it with the .zip suffix--figured-it out, though ;).

I'll incorporate this into the first post.

Thanks!
 
I just installed android-sdk. I have adb, but I can't find fastboot anywhere. I thought it should have been installed with the sdk. How do I find it? I run linux, and all I can find to download are for windows.
 
Is there some advantage to having the SuperUser.apk in /system/app, or would it be equally effective to gain root by running

adb root (restart adbd daemon with root permissions)
adb remount (remount /system partion in read/write mode)
adb push su /system/bin (copy su program to the phone)
adb shell chmod 06755 /system/bin/su (re-secure w/root permission/access)

and then installing the current SuperUser.apk from Android market after reboot?
 
John Markley said:
Is there some advantage to having the SuperUser.apk in /system/app, or would it be equally effective to gain root by running

adb root (restart adbd daemon with root permissions)
adb remount (remount /system partion in read/write mode)
adb push su /system/bin (copy su program to the phone)
adb shell chmod 06755 /system/bin/su (re-secure w/root permission/access)

and then installing the current SuperUser.apk from Android market after reboot?
Click to expand...

John,

First, welcome to the AndroidForums and glad you signed-up :).

LOL, I don't think I've ever done it separately, but I'd think you'd need to install it (the Superuser.apk app) like in the above so that the app is owned (and will therefore execute) as root.

The version of Superuser.apk that I have installed on my Droid X is owned by root vs. system like regular apps are:

Code: 
# [COLOR="Purple"]ls -a -l Super*[/COLOR]
-rw-r--r-- root     root               196521 2010-12-18 16:58 SuperUser.apk

Hope that helps.

Cheers!
 
scary alien said:
John,

First, welcome to the AndroidForums and glad you signed-up :).

LOL, I don't think I've ever done it separately, but I'd think you'd need to install it (the Superuser.apk app) like in the above so that the app is owned (and will therefore execute) as root.

<snip>
Hope that helps.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Thank you, that does help. The only reason I asked is because in the dev's market description he says

"Note: App and binary will have different versions. The app is updated more often than the binary is.
This app cannot be uninstalled if it was installed with your ROM or root. If there is no uninstall option, it's because you placed it in /system/app, not me."
implying, it seems, that there might be some reason to want to uninstall it, though I cannot think why.
 
John Markley said:
Thank you, that does help. The only reason I asked is because in the dev's market description he says

"Note: App and binary will have different versions. The app is updated more often than the binary is.
This app cannot be uninstalled if it was installed with your ROM or root. If there is no uninstall option, it's because you placed it in /system/app, not me."
implying, it seems, that there might be some reason to want to uninstall it, though I cannot think why.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've read this on ChainsDD's Market app description (https://market.android.com/details?id=com.noshufou.android.su) and just now on his web page (Superuser).

I'm still a little fuzzy on how exactly this would work separately like you originally asked. That's a great question and I'll continue to think about it (and maybe try it when I get my GNex (hopefully this coming Thursday :))).

I've seen some folks that wanted to be able to remove the Superuser app (which would show up in the app drawer) before turning their device in to make a warranty claim.

There are various ways to do this (i.e., removing the files we referenced above from an "adb shell" or on-phone terminal emulator session), so if you are savvy-enough (which you very much seem to be ;)), uninstalling these root components should be no problem.

I hope that helps.

Cheers!
 
scary alien said:
I'm still a little fuzzy on how exactly this would work separately like you originally asked. That's a great question and I'll continue to think about it (and maybe try it when I get my GNex (hopefully this coming Thursday :))).

I've seen some folks that wanted to be able to remove the Superuser app (which would show up in the app drawer) before turning their device in to make a warranty claim.

There are various ways to do this (i.e., removing the files we referenced above from an "adb shell" or on-phone terminal emulator session), so if you are savvy-enough (which you very much seem to be ;)), uninstalling these root components should be no problem.

I hope that helps.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Thanks. I have the same hope (GNex on Thursday...Friday...??). I thought of the desire to remove the app for warranty but, since that would require some adb shell or similar work anyway to remove the su and to relock, it seems irrelevant.
 
If I may clarify. Pushing the su binary and then the subsequent chmod of said binary to 6755 (or something similar) is what gives ANY application, process or anything else superuser access to your android phone. Consider the Superuser.apk as the guardian. Without installing Superuser.apk AT THE SAME TIME your phone is vulnerable to ANY app using root privileges without your knowledge. That is why it is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE to install Superuser.apk at the same time as the su binary. Do not let any version numbers, etc. get you confused, or even make you think about putting Superuser.apk in /data/app or anywhere else than /system/app. Please do not even speculate about this.

After all, those of you that have done this, every single time an app asks for su, Superuser pops up and asks for permission, right? Think about the alternative. Any app could call for su without your knowledge until you decide to install Superuser.apk from the market. And then, Superuser.apk will be installed to /data/app and a simple factory data reset will remove it until you reinstall it, all the while su will remain in /system/xxx wide open.

I hope this is clear enough and removes all doubt about how important it is to install Superuser.apk AT THE SAME time as the su binary.

good luck
 
This is a wonderful guide, Scary! Thanks for organizing everything, it's going to help a lot of people and avoid confusion, hopefully ;). Quick question, if one were to use the "super boot" method to root, would they just need to "fastboot oem unlock" then run the .bat file (Windows PC)?
 
WormDoes said:
This is a wonderful guide, Scary! Thanks for organizing everything, it's going to help a lot of people and avoid confusion, hopefully ;). Quick question, if one were to use the "super boot" method to root, would they just need to "fastboot oem unlock" then run the .bat file (Windows PC)?
Click to expand...

Hey WormDoes, thanks for the kind words (it was a lot of work, but you guys are worth it :) ;)).

Yes, the Superboot method assumes you've already done the "fastboot oem unlock" on your phone before you execute the batch file for your particular platform.

I'll go back and bold those notes so it stands out a little better (it really doesn't right now).

Cheers and again, thanks!
 
teddyearp said:
If I may clarify. Pushing the su binary and then the subsequent chmod of said binary to 6755 (or something similar) is what gives ANY application, process or anything else superuser access to your android phone. Consider the Superuser.apk as the guardian. Without installing Superuser.apk AT THE SAME TIME your phone is vulnerable to ANY app using root privileges without your knowledge. That is why it is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE to install Superuser.apk at the same time as the su binary. Do not let any version numbers, etc. get you confused, or even make you think about putting Superuser.apk in /data/app or anywhere else than /system/app. Please do not even speculate about this.

After all, those of you that have done this, every single time an app asks for su, Superuser pops up and asks for permission, right? Think about the alternative. Any app could call for su without your knowledge until you decide to install Superuser.apk from the market. And then, Superuser.apk will be installed to /data/app and a simple factory data reset will remove it until you reinstall it, all the while su will remain in /system/xxx wide open.

I hope this is clear enough and removes all doubt about how important it is to install Superuser.apk AT THE SAME time as the su binary.

good luck
Click to expand...

Teddy,

I think that you actually can install just the su binary without the Superuser.apk app without any ill-effects or security issues. The reason I say this is these two parts from ChainsDD's website (Superuser) about how the su binary and the Superuser.apk app interact with each other:

Superuser.apk runs as any other app and gives you, the user, a place to see what apps you have allowed or denied, as well as view a log of what apps have used su when.

The su binary is what other apps call when they need superuser rights. The binary checks the database maintained by Superuser.apk to determine if you have already granted rights to the requesting app, and if not tells Superuser.apk to display a prompt asking you for permission.

So, my impression is that if you don't make any su / root requests, then there's nothing to fail. If you do make an su / root request, then that request will fail because the Superuser app has not yet been installed (it won't execute if it can't get permission via the Superuser whitelist app).

I think this also clears-up John Markley's question about installing the Superuser.apk separately (presumably to support great devs like ChainsDD by downloading the app from the Market).

That's my take anyways ;).

Cheers!
 
the beauty is, I'm sure it won't be long before there's a video of how to root the SGN on youtube. I'm a tech idiot when it comes to this stuff, even though I rooted my OG Droid. I think I still watched a few vids before I did it.
Thanks for posting!
 
saulback said:
I just installed android-sdk. I have adb, but I can't find fastboot anywhere. I thought it should have been installed with the sdk. How do I find it? I run linux, and all I can find to download are for windows.
Click to expand...

saul, I have it in my collection:

http://ted.servepics.com/gnex/fastboot-linux

scary alien said:
Teddy,

The su binary is what other apps call when they need superuser rights. The binary checks the database maintained by Superuser.apk to determine if you have already granted rights to the requesting app, and if not tells Superuser.apk to display a prompt asking you for permission.
Click to expand...

I would rather err on the side of caution, as this does not say what su does when there is no database to refer to at all. Something in my mind tells me that su would just go ahead and grant any request since there's nothing saying not to. I guess we could ask ChainsDD, maybe I will.

That's my take.
 
saulback said:
I just installed android-sdk. I have adb, but I can't find fastboot anywhere. I thought it should have been installed with the sdk. How do I find it? I run linux, and all I can find to download are for windows.
Click to expand...

Saul,

Apologies for missing your post :( but thanks to teddyearp catching that and replying.

You can also find fastboot.exe / fastboot-windows.exe in this FAQ guide:

http://androidforums.com/faqs/443072-adb-guide-updated-12-04-2011-a.html

here at AF. I added a "Mini-SDK for Windows" section this past weekend that has an sdk-tools.zip file (downloadable in that page--its also referenced here in this thread in post #2 above (whose contents I'm still tweaking for getting custom recovery installed)).

The sdk-tools.zip file basically just contains adb.exe and the .dll files that it needs to run and the fastboot executables. Should make it so that you don't actually need to download and install the full Android SDK.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers!
 
teddyearp said:
Sorry, scary. I didn't mean to make you feel like you had to 'slink' off . . . . . lol.
Click to expand...

LOL, I felt worse that I overlooked Saul's post...and then I missed the important part about Linux :p (I'll half-blame a busy day at work ;)).

Better now...still catching-up on a lot of PMs and posts.

Thanks for keeping an eye-out here, too...we all appreciate it :).

Cheers!
 
Hi all,

I hope this is the proper venue for my question. I am anticipating getting the Verizon G-Nex this week and have been thinking about how to get my data on my existing phone over to my new phone. I have all my existing data backed up with Titanium backup. However, I was hoping to keep my G-Nex as "untinkered" with as possible (since it's a pure(r) Google experience phone, I'm not interested in flashing ROMs and interrupting the updates direct from Google). However, I am going to have to root the G-Nex in order to transfer my app data via Titanium Backup.

So I guess my real question is: Can I simply unlock and root the G-Nex without flashing an alternative recovery mode, etc., which would allow me to run apps that require root (such as Titanium Backup) but also not interfere with receiving direct updates from Google?

Thanks in advance.
 
Travillion said:
Hi all,

I hope this is the proper venue for my question. I am anticipating getting the Verizon G-Nex this week and have been thinking about how to get my data on my existing phone over to my new phone. I have all my existing data backed up with Titanium backup. However, I was hoping to keep my G-Nex as "untinkered" with as possible (since it's a pure(r) Google experience phone, I'm not interested in flashing ROMs and interrupting the updates direct from Google). However, I am going to have to root the G-Nex in order to transfer my app data via Titanium Backup.

So I guess my real question is: Can I simply unlock and root the G-Nex without flashing an alternative recovery mode, etc., which would allow me to run apps that require root (such as Titanium Backup) but also not interfere with receiving direct updates from Google?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Travillion,

Yeah, you should be able to follow one of the above rooting methods... None of these involve installing a custom recovery or re-flashing any of the boot images.

The rooting methods above basically have you soft-boot (i.e., in memory) the unsecured boot image so that you can remount /system in read/write mode to allow the root binaries (su and Superuser.apk) to be installed on your phone.

After that, you'll have root and can use TiBu to restore your apps! :)

Does that help and/or make sense?

Cheers!

edit: the stuff in post #2 re. ClockworkMod custom recovery is still under construcution at this point and isn't necessary for rooting. I'll add a little disclaimer in that post :).
 
scary alien said:
Travillion,

Yeah, you should be able to follow one of the above rooting methods... None of these involve installing a custom recovery or re-flashing any of the boot images.

The rooting methods above basically have you soft-boot (i.e., in memory) the unsecured boot image so that you can remount /system in read/write mode to allow the root binaries (su and Superuser.apk) to be installed on your phone.

After that, you'll have root and can use TiBu to restore your apps! :)

Does that help and/or make sense?

Cheers!

edit: the stuff in post #2 re. ClockworkMod custom recovery is still under construcution at this point and isn't necessary for rooting. I'll add a little disclaimer in that post :).
Click to expand...

Yes, that is most helpful! Thank you. My primary concern is to not disqualify myself from the direct updates from Google. As long as I can unlock and root without needing the custom recovery, I don't care about flashing ROMs, etc. I wasn't sure if adding the su binary or superuser.apk would mess with google updates for some reason, but it sounds like it won't.

Thanks for putting all the time into this thread. It's a great resource!
 
Not sure what I am doing wrong, Here is the screen shot below. I get adb devices to shows but not fastboot devices to show. Any ideas? I thought I had all the right drivers installed.

75640847.png
 
scary alien said:
Travillion,

Yeah, you should be able to follow one of the above rooting methods... None of these involve installing a custom recovery or re-flashing any of the boot images.

The rooting methods above basically have you soft-boot (i.e., in memory) the unsecured boot image so that you can remount /system in read/write mode to allow the root binaries (su and Superuser.apk) to be installed on your phone.

After that, you'll have root and can use TiBu to restore your apps! :)

Does that help and/or make sense?

Cheers!

edit: the stuff in post #2 re. ClockworkMod custom recovery is still under construcution at this point and isn't necessary for rooting. I'll add a little disclaimer in that post :).
Click to expand...

Scary Alien - Am I correct in the context of this thread that if after unlocking, but before rooting, I were to boot, not flash, the cwm .img thusly,

fastboot boot recovery-clockwork-5.5.0.2-maguro.img

and run a nandroid backup of the virgin OS, reboot, and then root, that there still would be no residual to derail the condition Travillion wants to achieve ?
 
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